A/N Still loving the reviews, thanks to everyone who took the time to post them! Firstly, I know, I did kill off the Ambassador yes, and I didn't like it, but I felt that it was really necessary to the plotline. Emily's a strong woman (she died and came back to life for crying out loud!), and it would take something huge to affect her. I feel like Emily, (in this story) still has that eternal hope that one day her mom will accept her, and having that possibility, that hope of reconciliation taken away will send her into a bit of a dark phase, but fear not! JJ will guide her through. Secondly, I love that everyone's looking forward to the JJ/Emily moments and the removal of Will, but it will come in due time. This was a huge trauma for Em, and it isn't something that a simple "I love you" can fix. For me it isn't so much the verbal "I love you" that's as important as all the ways JJ shows it, by sticking by Emily through it all. And Will? JJ still has some emotional ties to him and I can't sever all those at once. She's had a child with him, and she's too sweet and caring a person to just throw him out without either a lot of consideration or him seriously crossing a line. I don't want to make him too out of character (besides the excessive drinking) and he isn't a horrible guy, but I promise, he is in no way a permanent character. (sorry out there for all the JJ/Will shippers, this is just my opinion, but if you like them together it would beg the question as to why you're reading a Jemily fanfic) okay! I apologize for the extremely long author's note, here comes chapter seven!

- Nightshade

What a Difference a Day Makes

Chapter Seven

I was disturbed from the best sleep of my life when the nurse came in early in the morning to check on Emily. She eyed the intimate position we were in curiously, but continued to do the normal exam.

"How is she?" I asked while trying to rub the sleep from my eyes. The nurse gave me a soft look, flipping her chart shut with a sharp smack.

"You her girlfriend?" she drawled, and I had no idea how to answer that. It wasn't like we had dated, or talked about this, heck Emily wasn't even conscious!

"Something like that." I sighed; after all, didn't you need to have both people in the relationship alive and conscious in order to discuss labels? Can I even call this a relationship? Oh Lord what have I gotten myself into?

"Well, her pupils are equal and reactive, her GCS has been slowly improving, she's at an eleven now, so she's officially not in a coma, her surgical sites are healing and the slight fever she was running from the stress has disappeared. I'm hopeful that she'll wake up today even." That couldn't help but brighten my spirits, she might wake up! The nurse left, I was beginning to notice that no one ever seemed to stand still in hospitals. I got changed into the spare outfit in my go-bag, until I realized I needed a way to kill some time. I dug my IPod out from the bag and slipped in the ear buds, zoning out to the sounds of my music buzzing in the back of my skull. The nurse had been back with a syringe full of some medication with an irrationally long name, claiming it would help wake her up, before disappearing again. My phone buzzed, it was Garcia checking in, and she wanted to know if it was a good time to visit. As selfish as it may seem, I wanted to be the first person to see Em, to talk to her once she wakes up, probably because so much of our "relationship" was hanging in limbo, and I wanted to get that discussion over with. I sent a text back to her, telling her that she was asleep, and to hold off on the visiting for a bit. I tried to catch my earlier train of thought, but for the life of me I couldn't remember.

"You've always been forgetful." The raspy voice had returned, and I jumped at the surprise.

"Jeez Em! Do you just wait around until I'm distracted enough for you to sneak up on me?" I gasped, willing my heart to slow down. I couldn't quite discern whether the erratic heartbeat was from shock, or the joy of hearing Emily's voice

"Well, if it counts for anything, you're very attentive; I had to wait a while." She smiled, and I felt my heart soar. I never thought I would see her do that again. God how I've missed it!

"How are you feeling?" I was suddenly concerned, I know she was still feeling the effects of the drugs, but I doubt it's natural to be smiley and cheery after waking up from a coma precipitated by a bombing.

"Well, my head hurts like hell, I can't move my right leg, I can't hear too well out of my one ear, and my mouth is so dry it could qualify as the world's smallest desert. Hey, I thought I was supposed to be in Syria now, was I in a car accident or something? Attacked by a vengeful unsub before I got the chance to board the plane? What happened, and why do you look so serious Jayje?" she doesn't remember. She can't remember a single thing before she boarded that plane. And now I'm expected to tell her? Break her heart? Crush her spirit?

"You seriously don't remember?" her face went blank as she tried to think back.

"Not really, why? What happened? You're sorta scaring me JJ, just to let you know." A cognitive interview, we do it with witnesses all the time! I had to make her remember, because I couldn't bear to tell her myself. Telling the team was hard enough, but to tell Emily, to watch her take it all in and try to fit it in one of her boxes. I just couldn't know that I was the one who caused her that much pain. I took her hand in mine before starting.

"C'mon Em, you remember getting on the plane right? What was it like? Was the flight busy?" I pushed her, watching her search her blurry memories for the right one.

"No, it wasn't busy, my mother was silent the whole time, it was almost scary, like her eyes could burn right through whatever she stared at, not that I'm not used to her cold shoulder. We landed, and got in the car that took us to the school… mother gave me her usual "don't embarrass me" speech, we got out…"

"What else Emily? What happened next?" I had visibly cringed every time she mentioned her mother's name, and I hoped that she was too tied up in her thinking to notice, since profiling me right now would be like profiling a small child who was unable to control their squirming and keep their secrets quiet.

"We got out and entered the school, my mother went to schmooze with her friend from the Syrian consulate, and I went into the volunteer room where they were preparing lunch for the local kids playing soccer out back. One of them called the kids in, and I was helping hand out plates and- something's wrong, nothing happened, but I know something's wrong." She was squeezing my hand so tightly I almost thought I would have a handprint bruise across my knuckles.

"Shh, it's okay, you're safe, do you remember anything else?" I rubbed her hand soothingly, she was so close.

"I moved out of the room, and something knocked me down. It was really loud, and there was dirt raining from the sky, and the fire, and the screaming." Something connected, her eyes lit up in recognition. "JJ was I in an explosion?" I nodded, unable to hold back the tears any more. She remained as stoic and stone-faced as I'd expected. Emily Prentiss, daughter of the famous Ambassador, was always in control of her emotions. "Jennifer, where's my mother?" her voice wavered, as if she didn't really want to know the answer, that she knew deep down that the truth would hurt more than a lie.

"Emily, I'm so sorry…" I wanted to say more, so much more, but I couldn't speak around the lump that had formed in my throat. Still, she didn't react.

"No, you're wrong, she's fine, and I just got a bump on the head, and you're lying! Please tell me you're lying to me Jennifer!" she begged, raising her voice loud enough to make me flinch.

"I'm serious Emily." Dead serious.

"Oh." She stated as if I had just commented on how there was a sale on bananas at the supermarket, or how it was supposed to rain tomorrow. Like it was routine and normal, unimportant even. "Oh." Her eyes locked onto mine, and I could see tears forming that she was desperately trying to contain. Her mouth was frozen open, her pale red lips forming an O shape. "Oh…" she repeated again, though it came out as a broken sob instead of a word. "Oh my God no, this isn't happening! This isn't happening to me!" she yelled, tears streaming from her watery chocolate eyes like rivers. I pulled her into an awkward hug, minding the IV lines and the fact that she was laying on a hospital bed. She curled up, went completely rigid, her hands fisted in my shirt as she wept relentless, agonized sobs, The type that originate from the very core of your chest and rip from your very soul, tearing holes in your very foundation. I stroked her ebony hair, trying to offer her some semblance of comfort and wipe away my tears that had fallen there. I couldn't bear to pull away and see her heartbroken face, even when my lower back moaned in pain from my awkward pose. I simply climbed over the railing and lay beside her in the bed for the second time that day, allowing her to curl into my body and cry it out.

"Jen, thank you, for being here." She choked out before falling apart again. I clutched her tighter, the pain in her words driving a spike into my heart.

"Em, I wouldn't have left you alone, I promised you that you wouldn't have to go through any of this alone." Her reply was lost like a little boat in the great, black, stormy sea of grief and angst and heart-rending sobs. They eventually petered out, and I knew she must be tired. Despite the fact that she had been asleep for the past few days, her body was under an unbelievable amount of stress, and almost a half an hour of hard crying will tire you out. Sobs turned into mewling cries, which turned into whimpers, which faded into soft snoring. Her hands were still seized in my shirt, not that I minded the proximity. In fact her presence was soothing, just another reminder that even though she wasn't nearly out of the woods, she was alive, despite all that she had been put through she was alive. That to me was a miracle in itself. I was still petting her luxurious hair, still crying silent tears, when Pen knocked at the door.

"I was hoping this was a better time." She excused in a meek voice that was very unlike my exuberant friend. "I can go if you want."

"No, stay, it's fine, just stay quiet, she's asleep." I allowed, not wanting to force her away, she was obviously concerned for Emily, and I wasn't about to kick her out for being worried. "I take it that she didn't handle the news well."

"She handled it fairly reasonably considering the news she was facing." I retaliated slightly, not wanting to hurt Pen, but wanting to defend the woman who was currently snoring into my chest. Emily was strong, and no one could doubt that.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. So how is she?" thousands of words flew through my head, words that I couldn't force myself to say out loud.

Broken, crushed, crippled, in pieces, never going to be the same, shattered, damaged, torn up, suffering, scarred.

"She has a long road ahead, but physically, she's doing fine." I hoped my Agent Jareau look-on-the-bright-side would help. All it did was make it all seem so much more hopeless.

"How are you doing?" she asked, her blue eyes shining with empathy. She knew what Emily was going through kind of, she did lose her parents after all. But we've all suffered losses, Morgan witnessed his dad's death, Hotch's wife was murdered, Spence's dad left and his mom's hardly mentally present, my sister killed herself, even the old members of the BAU, Gideon's friend and old team were killed due to the job, Elle's father was shot, and parts of herself were taken from her. None of us in the BAU were untouched by loss, all of us could empathize. I brought my mind back to Garcia's question.

"I wasn't the one who was blown up." I replied smartly, trying to focus on Emily's problems, I was here for her, my own issues could wait.

"Yeah, but you did receive the first call about her, you did hear her eyewitness account, you are her friend, you care for her, this affects you too. I can't speak for the others, but I've barely slept a wink ever since this all went down." I forced the words out between gritted teeth, determined to stay in control of my emotions.

"I'm worried, I care about her of course I'm worried. But as long as I'm with her, I'm fine." Penelope's eyes flashed as she remembered something, perking up.

"That reminds me; I received a call from a certain New Orleans detective, who quite rudely demanded where his girlfriend had disappeared to, and why she's been gone for at least two days. I'm pretty sure you're in trouble when you get home." She pointed out, and I suppressed a groan. Will, that guy has the worst timing.

"I can deal with Will, trust me." I assured her.

"You'd better, because I'm already subjected to enough torture due to the images on my screens for work, I don't need it yelled in my ears from your irate boyfriend. I swear he uses curse words that he's just made up himself." I rolled my eyes, great. That guy is so in the doghouse when I get home.

"Well, he'll just have to deal with it, because right now, staying with Emily is more important than dealing with his childish tantrums." I swear Henry's better-behaved than him.

"Okay. Thanks Jayje, plus I blocked his number already, and did some vengeful hacking, he may be unable to use his credit card for a few weeks. I-I did a thing." She blushed, and I couldn't tell whether it was out of shame and remorse, or mischief. I yawned tiredly, looking over at the clock on the bedside, claiming the time to be almost midnight. Garcia thankfully took notice of my exhaustion and got up from her chair.

"Well, I'll let my sunshine get some rest tonight; can you tell Em I came to visit her? Pretty please?" I let out a tired chuckle.

"Of course Garcia, let the rest of the team know she's woken up as well. Just, if they want to visit, make sure it's in small groups or on their own, I don't want to overwhelm her." I looked back down at Em, and resisted the urge to kiss her on the forehead like I'd do to Henry when he's asleep. Garcia gave me a supportive pat on the shoulder.

"Anything for our sweet pea, get some rest, Garcia out." She left the room, doing the courtesy of turning down the lights. When I was sure no one was looking, I impulsively pressed my lips to Emily's damp forehead, so quickly that I barely felt the silky skin beneath my lips. She let out a soft sigh and snuggled closer to me, and my heart swelled with the happiness. When she was asleep, it was almost possible to pretend she was okay, she looked so peaceful. Penelope's news about Will worried me, while reminding me that I had other obligations outside the four walls of this hospital room. Henry wouldn't mind, he did love his Aunt Emily, and all he would do is give me that wide innocent gaze and tell me he hoped she'd feel better soon. Will, well Will was just going to have to realize that I have other people to attend to, and that I'm not alive just so I can clean up his drunken messes, care for his son, and boost his ego. I had other people to worry about, I had these new feelings for Emily to confront, and if he couldn't deal with the fact I had to be there for my fragile friend, well, if he can't accept that, is he really worth my time?

A/N I know I know, I'm back again. JJ's having doubts about Will, Emily's awake and um… taking the first step of many on the road to recovery. But one thing was omitted, did you catch it? Emily stopped recounting her memories before she left the message for JJ. The million-dollar question is, does she remember she did it at all? Does she know she told JJ how she felt? (Evil grin) yeah, it couldn't all just fall into place neat and tidy! And for those of you who wondered about the mysterious "she" Emily referenced in the last chapter, all shall be revealed in time! The cognitive interview idea came from episode 3x05, when Morgan and Reid do one on a boy who may have witnessed the abduction of his little cousin, but was repressing the memories. And the medical information I included in this chapter, for those of you who don't know, uneven or unresponsive pupils can be a sign for many neurological issues, so absence of those is a good thing! And GCS is short for Glasgow Coma Scale. It's a rating scale doctors use to gauge patient responsiveness based on a reaction to various stimuli. A score of 3-8 is considered a coma, with the scale ranging from 3-15. Just for those of you who are curious!

-Nightshade